Solvent-Free Chemical Recycling of Polymethacrylates made by ATRP and RAFT polymerization: High-Yielding Depolymerization at Low Temperatures.

Although controlled radical polymerization is an excellent tool to make precision polymeric materials, reversal of the process to retrieve the starting monomer is far less explored despite the significance of chemical recycling. Here, we investigate the bulk depolymerization of RAFT and ATRP-synthesized polymers under identical conditions. RAFT-synthesized polymers undergo a relatively low-temperature solvent-free depolymerization back to monomer thanks to the partial in situ transformation of the RAFT end-group to macromonomer.